The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology


Hallstatt Culture

Hallstatt Culture [CP].
Late Bronze Age and early Iron Age culture of central Europe named after the type-site at HALLSTATT, Austria. In the German system of classification the Hallstatt cultural sequence is subdivided into four units, A–D, of which A (12th and 11th centuries bc) and B (10th to 8th centuries bc) are regarded as Bronze Age cultures, and equate to the older and younger Urnfield cultures, while C and D were Iron Age cultures, dating to the 7th and 6th centuries bc.

Although the Hallstatt Culture developed from the preceding URNFIELD CULTURES there were a number of marked changes. First was the introduction of ironworking technology. Second, inhumation replaced cremation as the principal burial mode. And, third, Hallstatt society appears to have been highly differentiated, with wealthy chieftains buried in richly furnished graves that included amongst their grave...

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